Fishing traps are placed on the beds of lakes, oceans, and other bodies of water (sea bed) to capture and collect fish, shellfish, crustaceans, molluscs, bivalves, or other fishing animals (hereinafter “fish”) for harvest as seafood. A standard fishing trap is designed to be reused to accept bait, be placed on the sea bed to trap fish, and then retrieved to harvest the fish from the trap. As these traps are intended to be reused often, it is important that they are resilient to both being submerged in water for long periods as well as during their use, handling, and storage. Generally, fishing traps use wooden runners attached to the bottom of the trap to protect the trap from damage caused while the trap is resting on the seabed, being stored, or during the trap's deployment and recovery from a fishing vessel. These runners provide some structural support while helping to protect the frame of the trap from impacts with seabed obstacles, other traps, and fishing equipment. However, wooden runners can become damaged, waterlogged, or rotten over time.
Further, as such traps are designed to rest on the seabed, the traps must have either sufficient weight or additional ballast to keep the trap on the seabed, right side up, until it is retrieved. This is often done by adding bricks or other ballast sources inside the traps. However, during retrieval of the traps, these ballast sources can shift resulting in injury to the fish in the
Several inventions have been proposed to address these concerns. Canadian Patent No. 2,253,051 to Bartlett discloses a wire mesh lobster trap which has poured concrete runners formed around the lower portions of the trap frame. These concrete runners would provide ballast for the trap and be resilient to provide structural support to the trap. However, the use of concrete runners can result in damage to boat surfaces and fishing equipment during the deployment and retrieval of the traps. In addition, forming the concrete runners directly around the trap frame means that the runner cannot be readily removed or replaced if the trap requires maintenance or repairs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,486,973 to Faucillion discloses a shellfish trap comprising an integrated plastic base with indentations to receive poured concrete while the plastic outer shell protects against damage. However, the system requires the trap to be specifically designed to fit the plastic base as one unit, is relatively complex to manufacture and does not provide for runners or ballast for use in other traps in particular existing conventional traps.
There is clearly a need for a fishing trap runner which is long lasting, resistant to damage, less likely to cause damage to other traps and equipment, relatively easy to install or remove, and especially able to provide ballast to the trap.